JD Durkin: Michael Zilis joins us now. Michael is EVP and CFO at Ingram Micro. Nice to see you here, Michael. Thanks for taking the time.
So, for people a bit unfamiliar, first and foremost, what is Ingram Micro, and why do you sit at the center of the global IT ecosystem?
Michael Zilis: Yeah. So, in the more than 50-year history of our company, we’ve built the business to be a more than $50 billion top-line revenue company, sitting at the center of technology, as you just said.
So a lot of that history started with distribution, which was really bringing together more than 1,500 different vendors currently to serve more than 165,000 different customers across the IT ecosystem. But what we’ve built since that time is really to become one of the largest technology platform companies, as we’ve really evolved our platform story and how we bring that customer experience to a different level.
JD Durkin: And Michael, anyone watching this interview is keenly aware of the fact that you are joining us live from NYSE Texas. First of all, big shout-out to the broadcast operations team. It’s a beautiful set, and I know you’re also doing your Capital Markets Day. What should people know about what this day means to you and your top priorities there in Texas?
Michael Zilis: Well, look, we went public in October of ’24, took the company back public in October of 2024. We were public for many years before that. And so it’s about time we do a Capital Markets Day to share with our investors our story, but really, where has the strategy evolved?
So our Paul Bay, our CEO, will give a full debrief of where our strategy is right now. We’ll have Sanjib Sahoo, who heads our platform business, really talk about the platform that I just mentioned. We’ll have a number of our regional presidents and other leaders speaking, some customer panels as well. And then we’ll be sharing some three-year outlooks as far as financials go over the ’27 to ’29 period.
JD Durkin: Michael, I simply would not be doing my job as a financial broadcast journalist in 2026 if I did not ask you the ways you are using artificial intelligence. What do those considerations look like for you today?
Michael Zilis: Well, I’ll start with how we use it and then also how we sell it. So if I think about the platform that I just mentioned, there’s more than 400 machine learning models embedded in this platform.
It’s entirely proprietary as far as how we are now the operating system, not only for Ingram Micro, but also for our core customers who are using this as their own platform to conduct business. So this is a true evolution.
But then, as you think about where AI is going in the market more broadly, we’re seeing, obviously, a bit of an evolution right now. There’s a lot of data center build-out. We’re playing at the center of that. But we also have a program called Enable AI, which is really around education into the channel, educating, especially in the small and medium-sized business, what does AI mean? Where is it going? And building capabilities, technical and otherwise, to really deliver on those solutions as the technology of AI continues to evolve.
So it’s an exciting time, to say the least, right now.
JD Durkin: Michael, I always know it’s a good interview when I have more questions that I want to get to, but sadly, I’m out of time. That simply means you have to rejoin the show at some time soon.
Michael Zilis, EVP and CFO at Ingram Micro. Michael, thanks for taking the time today.
Michael Zilis: Thanks for having me.
